Executive Summary

This proposal discusses the concerns regarding traffic congestion arising from the
high car ownership in Singapore resulting in traffic congestion. As such, the team
would like to suggest a new approach to allow greater maneuverability in traffic
especially in the CBD area through a ‘car-sharing’ approach. Primary and secondary
data obtained from different sources has established a need for the improvement or
developing of a new approach in order to reduce the number of cars on the road. This
approach would serve to provide alternative transportation for people for occasional
and leisure purposes and thus reducing car ownership. The proposed solution contains
three parts, the conversion of unused taxis to the car-sharing vehicles, implementation
of the approach and benefits of these cars. These ideas will work in tandem to
complement existing policies to encourage alternative mode of transportation, reduce
car ownership and effectively make our roads less congested and stressful.

PERSONAL STATEMENT

Lim Hong Yi

Hong Yi has diploma in civil aviation. Currently, he is currently pursuing Bachelor of
Engineering with Honours in Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering (Land) in
Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). Hong Yi studied in this course because he
likes the analytical thinking aspect of the course. Through this degree, he hopes that
he could work in the transport industry in the future. He also hopes to promote the use
of car-sharing and reduce the car ownership in Singapore through this proposal.

Letter of Transmittal

Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering (Land)
Singapore Institute of Technology
10 Dover Drive
Singapore 138683

20 October 2015

Chew Men Leong
Chief Executive
Land Transport Authority
1 Hampshire Road
Singapore 219428

Dear Mr Chew,

Re: Proposal for Implementation of New Policy 

Enclosed for your kind consideration is the following proposal for the implementation 

of a new policy plan in Singapore. We are pleased to present you the following 

proposal with the intention of reducing the number of cars on the roads and 

encouraging the new generation not to purchase a vehicle of their own.

The report is comprised of the problems of which every driver faces on a daily basis 

and also the motivation behind the proposed solutions as well as a comprehensive 

summary of all related research.

We would like to thank you for taking the time to read through our proposal and hope 

that you will take our suggestion into consideration to make Singapore a greener and 

 a more pleasant place to live in.

Yours Sincerely,

Kathleen,
Hong Yi,
Muhammad Sahil,
Mubin Noor

Reader Response Draft 4

Khanna (2015) in “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to ‘seize the urban moment’” states that multiple South-east Asian cities have been metropolitanized. To adapt to rapid urbanization, South-east Asian governments have exploited technological applications to work with citizens on real time issues. They also use those to ease resource and infrastructural constraints. Furthermore, to increase potential economic growth, the governments’ focuses are on investing in technological infrastructure and the ideal of a green city. The boost in urban productivity establishes their advancement in becoming the "model of urban development in the 21st century." While the technological applications increase the spread of information and help ease the infrastructure constraints, they are underutilized and impose little value to the public.

Khanna expresses his hopefulness in the use of technological applications such as QLUE (crowd-sourcing mobile app) which reports on immediate local issues such as traffic and flood issues to the Indonesian government. Another example includes Beeline from Singapore (personalized bus service) that allows the passengers to plan private bus routes for buses and create the optimal route for these users. While these technological applications increase the spread of information and help ease some infrastructure constraints, they provide little value to the public in these countries to help solve their traffic and flood issues.

Firstly, some of the so-called "innovative" applications, have limited application. One example given by Khanna is Beeline, which has limited potential in Singapore because it has a very efficient public bus transportation system that covers all parts of the city. According to the Ministry of Transport (2015), the frequency of the buses and trains is increasing steadily and there are more routes added for the buses and trains to cater to the increasing population. Not only that, based on the TomTom (2015) traffic congestion statistic, the roads are heavily congested at the central area that connects to other parts of Singapore. The routes that are shown on the Beeline official website are mainly focus on traveling from north-east area to the central area during peak hours. Hence, the Beeline service impose little help to ease the congestion during peak hours when they are sending more buses to the central area during peak hours.

Furthermore, Khanna talks about proactive urban governance in Jakarta with the use of technological application like QLUE. This has been effective only to a limited extent due to the existing infrastructural problems. According to  The economist (2015), Jakarta is ranked number 1 with the worst traffic in the world. Dewanti (2015) point out how Jakarta’s bad traffic is getting worst mainly due to the disproportional increase of car numbers as to increase of road ratio. On top of that, despite being one of the world’s most congested cities, Jakarta only has one rail-based form of public transportation. Ben (2014) mentioned that Jakarta has been swamped by a host of problems like land requisition issues that involve clearing other infrastructures, and hence new mass rapid transit(MRT) has been delayed numerous time. As such, this application (QLUE) could only be used as a tool for observation and does not alleviate the underlying problems.

According to Adonai (2015), with regards to devastating floods, Jakarta is affected badly from the monsoon peak. They have rendered many roads useless and many power grids in affected areas were shut down for safety precautions. However, QLUE merely reports incidents back to the Indonesian government but does not ensure that any existing infrastructural issues are dealt with. Overall, the government needs to 'proactively' create new policies to deal with the traffic and existing infrastructures that can subside the flood and ease traffic to a manageable level. Until then, the use of technological applications like QLUE will prove limited in use to the citizen.

In conclusion, Khanna’s optimism about the technological application falls short and it is far from reality. Technological applications can only be a limited tool when the lack of effective policy and limited infrastructure planning are  reducing the effectiveness of information sharing applications.

References

The economist. (2015). Safe city index 2015 white paper. Retrieved from

http://safecities.economist.com/whitepapers/safe-cities-index-white-paper/

TOMTOM (2010, September1).Safe city index 2015 white paper. Retrieved from http://www.onemotoring.com.sg/publish/onemotoring/en/motoring_buzz/Motoring_News/Best_and_worst_travel_times_in_Singapore.html

Ananda, T., Pribadi, W., Atmi, P.,& Wanto. (2013, September 22). Jokowi: Jakarta's Traffic Most Affected by Cheap Cars. Retrieved from  http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2013/09/22/057515573/Jokowi-Jakartas-Traffic-Most-Affected-by-Cheap-Cars

Ben, O. (2014, July 14). When Will Jakarta’s MRT Be Finished? New Answer Coming in September. Retrieved from http://blogs.wsj.com/indonesiarealtime/2014/07/20/when-will-jakartas-mrt-be-finished-new-answer-coming-in-september/

Adonai. (2015, February 9). Jakarta flooded as peak rainy season approaches, Indonesia. Retrieved from http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2015/02/09/jakarta-flooded-as-peak-rainy-season-approaches-indonesia/

Dewanti, A.W., & Indra B.,(2015). Jakarta has 'worst traffic in the world'. Retrieved from

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/05/jakarta-has-worst-traffic-world.html

The Role of Peer and Tutor Feedback

Write a critically reflective post on the topic “The Role of Peer and Tutor Feedback." Explain your view of that feedback, how it impacted your developing writing skills, and  whether/how you might transfer content, organization and language skills learned in the course to writing assignments within any other module at SIT. This should be 300 to 400 words.(311 words)

I read my peers' passages from a different angle and write down  my own ideas into words for them to understand. A good feedback has the attribute of providing strengths and weaknesses in a timely fashion about the peer's passages so that they can reflect upon themselves when the passage is still fresh in their mind.

My first post on this blog is about how English is important. I got my fair share of positive comments and constructive criticism.  One of more memorable one is professor Blackstone's feedback. He mentioned that I have illustrated the impression of English. However, the use of metaphor was confusing. After evaluated what he said, I kept it in mind and whenever I read books, I will keep a look out for interesting metaphor that were used appropriately. Even though my newer posts does not reflect the use of improved metaphors but I picked up a good habit. It reminded myself that it is important to keep your reader's imagination link to your idea.


Effective communication is a very crucial skill to have. Any job in the world requires some form of communication and being able to pass on your idea to another person in a form of words or writing without corroding the meaning helps people to understand your point. This module, Effective Communication, given me a deeper understanding of how to write a more effective report. All the skills can be very beneficial to  other modules with report writing during my years in Singapore institute of Technology. Through the many reader respond draft done, I have a better understand of how to get my idea across. With or without words limit, we should always keep the meaning of the sentence relevant. Always have your peers feedback on the post you wrote. This helps them to pick up any silly grammar mistakes or illogical sentences.

Presentation reflection

Write an analytical reflection on your recent oral presentation experience. In it detail one aspect of the presentation; preparation, your delivery, the use of audio visuals, teamwork or overall impact.(150-200 words)

Our group presentation was on the prospect of car-sharing as a solution for road congestion. Before the presentation, I made sure to rehearse my presentation both alone and together with my teammates. We did a mock presentation to make sure that that there is a logical transition on the presentation. This enhances the audience’s comprehension of our presentation. Rehearsing our content points also further improved our grasp of it which allowed me to speak with more conviction. As such, I was able to be self-reliant from cue cards or the need to refer back to a written script.  

we made sure that our slides were relevant and simple. While it helped the audience to better comprehend our ideas in case they got lost halfway, the slides were also very helpful to me in the process of my delivery. I will refer back to my slides regularly to remind myself of certain details, and also used it as a guidance in helping me bring my points across. This also refrained me from pausing too long at certain parts during the presentation.During the presentation, I  had to consciously make it a point to keep eye contact when and also gesture appropriately when I spoke.Body language speaks volumes during one’s presentation. When I had a point to make, I would extend my arm to grab the attention of my audience. 

Overall, the presentation has given me confident and allows me to understand my weakness. It is a gateway to learning so that we can hold a better presentation in the future. 

Reader Response Draft 3

Khanna (2015) on “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to ‘seize the urban moment’” states  that multiple South-east Asian cities have been metropolitanized. To adapt to rapid urbanization, South-east Asian governments have exploited technological applications to work with citizens on real time issues. They also use those to ease resource and infrastructural constraints. Furthermore, to increase potential economic growth, the governments’ focuses are on investing in technological infrastructure and the ideal of a green city. The boost in urban productivity establishes their advancement in becoming the "model of urban development in the 21st century." While the technological applications increase the spread of information and help ease on the infrastructure constraints, they are underutilized and impose little value to the public.

Khanna expresses his hopefulness in the use of technological applications such as QLUE (crowd-sourcing mobile app) which reports on immediate local issues such as traffic and flood issues to the Indonesian government. Another example includes Beeline from Singapore (personalized bus service) that allows the passengers to plan private bus routes for buses and create the optimal route for the users. While these technological applications increase the spread of information and help ease the infrastructure constraints, they impose little value to the public in these countries.

Firstly, "innovative" applications like Beeline have limited potential in Singapore because it has a very efficient public bus transportation system that covers all parts of the city. According to the Ministry of Transport (2015), the frequency of the buses and trains are increasing steadily and there are more routes added for the buses and trains to cater to the increasing population. Not only that, based on the TomTom (2015) traffic congestion statistic, the roads are heavily congested at the central area that connects to other parts of Singapore. Using the beeline official website, the routes that beeline has provided are mainly focus on traveling from north-east area to the central area during peak hours. Hence, the Beeline service impose little help to ease on the congestion during peak hours.

Furthermore, Khanna talks about proactive urban governance in Jakarta with the use of technological application like QLUE. This has been effective only to a limited extent due to the existing infrastructural problems. According to the Safe city index 2015 white paper (2015), Jakarta is ranked number 1 with the worst traffic in the world. Theresia (2013) point out about how Jakarta bad traffic is mainly due to the poorly maintained roads and surge in car numbers because of its affordability. Despite being one of the world’s most congested cities, it does not have a proper mass rapid transport system (MRT). As such, this application (QLUE) could only be used as a tool for observation and does not alleviate the underlying problems.

Otto (2014) raise his concern about the plan of MRT construction project. He mentioned that Jakarta has been swamped by a host of problems like land requisition issues that involve clearing other infrastructures, and hence it has been delayed numerous time. According to Adonai (2015) with regards to devastating floods, Jakarta is affected badly from the monsoon peak. They have render many roads useless and many power grids in affected areas were shut down for safety precautions. However, QLUE merely reports incidents back to the Indonesian government but does not ensure that any existing infrastructural issues are dealt with. Overall, the government needs to 'proactively' create new policies to deal with the traffic and existing infrastructures that can subside the flood and ease traffic to a manageable level. Until then, the use of technological applications like QLUE will prove limited use to the citizen.

In conclusion, Khanna’s optimism about the technological application falls short and it is far from reality. Technological applications can only be a limited tool when the lack of effective policy and limited infrastructure planning are bottle necking the usefulness of information sharing applications.

References

Safe city index 2015 white paper. (2015). Retrieved from  http://safecities.economist.com/whitepapers/safe-cities-index-white-paper/

Worst place to drive to work in the morning. (2010, September1). Retrieved from http://www.onemotoring.com.sg/publish/onemotoring/en/motoring_buzz/Motoring_News/Best_and_worst_travel_times_in_Singapore.html

Ananda T, Pribadi W, Atmi.P, Wanto. (2013, September 22). Jokowi: Jakarta's Traffic Most Affected by Cheap Cars. Retrieved from http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2013/09/22/057515573/Jokowi-Jakartas-Traffic-Most-Affected-by-Cheap-Cars


Ben, O. (2014, July 14). When Will Jakarta’s MRT Be Finished? New Answer Coming in September. Retrieved from http://blogs.wsj.com/indonesiarealtime/2014/07/20/when-will-jakartas-mrt-be-finished-new-answer-coming-in-september/


Adonai. (2015, February 9). Jakarta flooded as peak rainy season approaches, Indonesia. Retrieved from http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2015/02/09/jakarta-flooded-as-peak-rainy-season-approaches-indonesia/


7 reason to love public transport in 2015 (2015). Retrieved from http://www.mot.gov.sg/Transport-Matters/Public-Transport/7-reasons-to-love-public-transport-in-2015/

A person or event that has influenced you in your life.

A person or event that has influenced you in your life.

A person's decision is shaped by the people around him/her. So, the most obvious choice would have to be my mother. She has been with me throughout 24 years of my life. I realized that the decisions I have made has been greatly influenced by her. She has a very strong sense of moral that is closely relates to Buddhism values. She is also a very diligent individual that never complains about the hardship she has faced in her life. She is the kind of mother that brings smile to others and her positive attitude towards life has rubbed off in each and everyone of us in the family.

We started off from a very humble beginning. Both of my parents are very thrifty but they are willing to spend on me. When I was young, my mum did not want to get any toy figure for me because they are considered as "not educational" and so she got me a box of LEGO ( Acronym for leg godt in danish which means play well) that is much more costly than those toy figure sitting in the shelf. I love the LEGO that my mum got for me, It was my favorite toys and it has accompany me during my childhood days. With my fervour love for stacking blocks of LEGO as a kid, My mum told me to become an architect. Even though that childhood dream of mine did not fulfill, the ripple effect on me is crucial.

Her words, action and decision has stayed with me. She's the pillar to my motivation to do well in my studies and to attain the goal I have set for myself. She has helped me stayed on the right path. I am grateful to have her.

Reader respond of Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'

DRAFT 2

Khanna (2015) on “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to ‘seize the urban moment’ states  that multiple South-east Asian cities have been metropolitanized. To adapt to rapid urbanization, South-east Asian governments have exploited technological applications to work with citizens on real time issues.They also use it to ease resource and infrastructural constraints. Furthermore, to increase potential economic growth, the government's focus is on investing in technological infrastructure and the ideal of a green city. The boost in urban productivity establishes their advancement to become the "model of urban development in the 21st century." While the technological applications increase the spread of information and help ease on the infrastructure constraints, it is underutilized and impose little value to the public.

In the article "Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to ‘seize the urban moment",Khanna(2015)  expresses his hopefulness in the use of technological applications such as QLUE(crow-sourcing mobile app) where it reports on the immediate local issues such as traffic and flood issues to the government  as well as Beeline(personalized bus service) that allows the passengers to plan the private bus routes for buses and create the optimal route as an option to tackle on the infrastructure and resource constraints. While the technological applications  increase the spread of information and help ease on the infrastructure constraints, it is underutilized and impose little value to the public.

The first reason is that "innovative" application like Beeline has limited potential in Singapore to expand due to the road space constraint during peak hours. Singapore has a very efficient transportation system that covers all parts of Singapore. Company like SMRT and SBS that duopolized the Singapore public transport system that brings people to places through rapid train and buses.Most of the people take the public transport when they are heading to work because getting a car is costly. From the TomTom 2015 traffic congestion statistic, the roads are heavily congested at the central area that connect to other parts of Singapore. Beeline application which serves working adults mostly could only add to the congestion of the jam in Singapore. 

Furthermore, Khanna talks about proactive urban governance in Jakarta with the used of technological application like QLUE. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (2015) , Jakarta is ranked number 1 with the worst traffic in the world. The result of ranking number 1 in the bottom is mainly due to the poorly maintained road and affordable car cost.The government has undergo MRT construction project to reduce the traffic congestion issues.Since the launch of MRT construction, the project has been swarm by a host of problems like land requisition issues that involve with clearing other infrastructures so it is delay numerous time. Also, devastating flood hit Jakarta yearly due to the monsoon peak.The flood has affected millions and killed people. The government need to be 'proactively' create new policy to deal with the traffic and innovative infrastructures that can subside the flood to a manageable level. Until then, the use of QLUE could only be use as a tool for observation.

In conclusion, Khanna optimism about the technological application fall short and it is far-fetch from reality. In short, technological application could only be a limited tool when the lack of effective policy and limited infrastructure budget are bottle necking the usefulness of information sharing applications.

one monitoring news (2015)  retrieved from http://www.onemotoring.com.sg/publish/onemotoring/en/motoring_buzz/Motoring_News/Best_and_worst_travel_times_in_Singapore.html

Wardhani and Budiari(2015) retrieved from,http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/05/jakarta-has-worst-traffic-world.html

Theresa(2013) retrived from http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2013/09/22/057515573/Jokowi-Jakartas-Traffic-Most-Affected-by-Cheap-Cars

Ben(2014)http://blogs.wsj.com/indonesiarealtime/2014/07/20/when-will-jakartas-mrt-be-finished-new-answer-coming-in-september/

(392 words excluded summary)

summary of Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'

Khanna (2015) on “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to ‘seize the urban moment’ states  that multiple South-east Asian cities have been metropolitanized. To adapt to rapid urbanization, South-east Asian governments have exploited technological applications to work with citizens on real time issues.They also use it to ease resource and infrastructural constraints. Furthermore, to increase potential economic growth, the government's focus is on investing in technological infrastructure and the ideal of a green city. The boost in urban productivity establishes their advancement to become the "model of urban development in the 21st century." While the technological applications increase the spread of information and help ease on the infrastructure constraints, it is underutilized and impose little value to the public.

ENGLISH IS IMPORTANT

Write a descriptive reflection on one of those themes mentioned in the e-portfolio(150-200 words)


-The most important "steps" on your English language learning journey thus far:


When did you first "learn" English?


How has the experience been since last time?


How much have you accomplished?


What challenges have you faced?


Why were this steps important?


When I learnt my first English word, I was in kindergarten(pre school) when I was about 6 years old. As a kid who was brought up by a Chinese-speaking family,I found that the English language is very foreign to me.

I vaguely remembered that I was highly motivated for my first lesson, learning about vocabularies and simple sentence structure. There were pictures related to the words that guided us to connect them together to help us learn better visually. As a visual learner, I have learned tremendously in building up the basics of my vocabulary bank. 

However,   my fondness for English diminished as I explored more in-depth with the language. There are rules in the language to follow such as grammar and sentence structure so without the constant practice of speaking with my peers and family, I found that it was very challenging to convey my ideas to another person. It was like speaking with my tongue tied. 

I believe that learning a language is building pyramid; its foundation might be challenging to build, but it is of utmost importance and things will get simpler as it grows progressively stronger. Keeping our foundation strong is only possible with consistency  in our efforts. English language is a important skill that needs to be perpetually revisit so we do not lose our edge. To improve, we must always write and read to raise the standard.